Budget Cut
by TooManyHobbiesToList123
Summary: When Hogwarts starts to lose money, how does it affect Harry and his friends? Weird summary, give it a shot. Please R


**Hello again… (St4rxx94 here) Wow I'm really into writing these days… Anyways, my school is having issues with the budget. So I got this idea…Third year? Yeah I guess… I don't want any encounters with Voldemort in this story…**

_Disclaimer: Do not own Harry Potter or its awesome characters. _

The notices had gone up during the night, an unpleasant surprise for the Gryffindors in the morning.

"Oi! What's all the fuss about?" Ron Weasley groaned, coming down the stairs.

A sleep eyed Harry Potter followed.

"They've cut the schools money." Ginny Weasley explained.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Fudge got drunk a few nights ago and spent most of the Ministry's money down at the Hogs Head." Hermione Granger said, joining the group, a _Daily Prophet _clutched in her hand.

"So we're losing ou-our-" Harry yawned widely and stretched. "We're losing our money?" He asked again.

Hermione nodded.

"Blimey, don't we run on magic?" Ron asked, heading back upstairs to get dressed. The others followed.

"We _do _Ron, but what do you think pays for everything?" Hermione sighed, entering the boys' dorm.

Ron shrugged, now digging through his trunk for a clean pair of robes. Harry sat down on his bed, rubbing his eyes. Ginny sat opposite him on Ron's bed. Hermione sat by her feet and took Harry's _Spellman's Syllabary_ off his nightstand and flipped to a random page.

"Do you ever stop working?" Ron asked annoyed, heading into the bathroom, robes and a towel in his arms.

Ginny giggled and Hermione huffed angrily. "Well Ron-"

"Really you two? It's 7:00AM on a Saturday. I wouldn't even be awake if it wasn't for those second years-"

"Hey! Those are my friends." Ginny piped up, crossing her arms and frowning at Harry.

Harry put his hands up in surrender. "I'm just saying, no way were we that annoying-"

"Hey!"

"Plus there's a whole lot of them too. Heck, there are only eight of us..." Harry said counting on his fingers. "Seamus, Dean, Neville, Ron, Me, Hermione, Lavender and Parvati."

"What does this budget cut _do _exactly?" Ron asked, coming out of the bathroom, ending the conversation. A cloud of steam followed him.

"Wow you shower fast." Hermione said, eyes fixed on the page.

Ron shrugged, running a comb through his hair. "Anyone care to answer?"

Hermione and Harry looked at each other. "All you." Harry said, falling back onto his bed.

"Well Ron," Hermione started, closing her book and turning to face Ron. "When we had budget cuts at my Muggle School, it typically meant that many things would be taken away from the school."

"Like what?"

Hermione shrugged. "For us it was usually activities, we didn't get new materials…computers…"

"What?"

"Never mind. Point is Hogwarts is going to change."

Ginny nervously glanced out the window. Although it was early, kids were already starting to fill u the grounds. Ginny sighed "You don't reckon they'll take away Quidditch, do you? Or the Feasts?"

Hermione shrugged. "Honestly, I have no idea. I'm hungry. Let's go down to breakfast." She said standing up. "You coming Harry?" She asked, looking at him.

Harry propped himself up on his elbows and nodded. "I'll see you down in a bit…" He said.

"Alright. C'mon Ginny, Ron…"

The three left and Harry fell back into a light sleep. He jerked awake when he heard more kids complain about the notice on the board. "Better get ready." He muttered to himself and stood up and went into the bathroom.

---

"Breakfast…Oh how I love you…Your stacks of perfect pancakes, bowls of cereal, plates of French toast… The aroma of syrup and waffles! Orange and Apple juice galore…"

Hermione and Ginny looked at each other. "Err, Ron, are you alright?" Ginny asked. Hermione bit her lip to keep herself from laughing.

Ron snapped out of his daze and nodded. He sat down and started pulling everything within his reach towards him. "Oh no… The sausages are down there…" He moaned. "Hermione you're smart…Can you wave them over?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow, but waved her wand and brought the sausages over nonetheless. Ron grabbed the plate hungrily. Surrounding students watched – some disgusted, others awed – as Ron stuffed forkfuls of various foods into his mouth.

"Honestly Ron, could you be any more of a pig?" Hermione asked, tucking neatly into her scrambled eggs and orange juice.

Ron looked up at Hermione and shrugged.

Ginny laughed at Hermione's expression of disgust and sat opposite her.

"Mr. Weasley swallow once in a while or you're going to choke." McGonagall scolded coming up behind them, holding a stack of parchment.

Ron tightly swallowed and asked "What's that Professor?"

"These are your new schedules." McGonagall said, shifting through the pile and pulling out four. She handed one to each of them and then looked around. "Where is Mr. Potter?"

"Right here Professor." Harry said joining the group and sitting beside Ginny.

"Ah, well there you are." She said briskly, handing him the parchment and sweeping away.

"New schedules… What do you reckon?" Ron asked. Harry shrugged.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Obviously the class sizes are going to change now."

"B-but why?!" Ron gasped. "I like having only one other House in a class! With anymore it's going to get much too confusing-"

"Honestly Ron, use your brains for once? Things are going to change. Here is change number one."

"I do use my brains-"

"Only when it comes to food-"

"Hey! Without food I'd die-"

"Wouldn't that be an improvement-"

"So let's see what the changes are!" Harry said loudly, cutting the fight off. He looked down at his schedule and felt his heart sink.

"Every class with the Slytherins? You've got to be kidding me!" Ron swore loudly.

Hermione's eyes scanned the paper quickly. "T-they can't have!" She gasped.

Harry looked over her shoulder at her schedule. "Finally got a normal schedule!" He said, nodding.

Hermione shook her head.

"Look at the bright side, now you can finally get some sleep..." Ginny said.

"No…" She moaned, pushing her eggs away from her and standing up. "I'm going to go and talk to Professor McGonagall about this…" She muttered and hurried away.

Ron watched her go, shaking his head. "Would it kill her to have a normal life for once?" He said, and then returned to his food.

Harry looked at his schedule again. It seemed as if from now on, every class would be with the students in his year from every house. Which would mean a lot less time to get work done in class, and a lot more homework. Harry sighed.

When Ron had finished eating, he and Harry headed out into the grounds towards Hagrid's cabin.

They were nearing the little hut when they saw Cornelius Fudge emerge from the door.

"I'm sorry Hagrid, but the budget-"

"Cornelius, please. Hagrid has been here since he was thirteen-" Albus Dumbledore protested.

"That's been plenty of time and he should've learned to take care of himself by now. The school will no longer pay to let him live here-"

"The other teachers get paid! Why not Hagrid?"

"I forgot he was a teacher." Cornelius sighed. "My apologies Hagrid."

"S'okay." Hagrid replied heavily. Cornelius nodded, put on his hat, and made towards the school gates.

"Crummy Saturday, isn't it? First we get new schedules, then Hagrid nearly gets kicked out of the school…" Ron said under his breath.

"Yeah…" Harry said absent mindedly.

**Ehh… Should I continue?**

**Please review! **


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